Tag Archive: attitude

Since 1992, a highlight of the ISAAC Biennial Conferences has been the presentation of the Outstanding Consumer Lecture Award. This award is given to a person who uses AAC to share their talents, perspectives, and experiences. In this week’s featured video, we hear from the most recent awardee, Mke Ninces, on Assumptions, Attitudes, and Adventures. Congratulations to Ms. Ninces on receiving the 14th ISAAC Outstanding Consumer Lecture Award, and thank you to ISAAC for hosting and sharing this lecture. Direct Link to Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psbtJNNFL7I

People with AAC needs have so much to say, something I was reminded of recently when I pulled an old, dog-eared book from my shelf and got lost leafing through the essays. In spite of all the challenges he faced, Thomas Bratt, a Swedish man who became speech impaired from a massive stroke at age 23, reminds us that courage and a sense of humor count for something. In the book, Conversations with Nonspeaking People, Bratt tells about taking a trip on his own to see Venice two years after his stroke at a time when he was still severely aphasic. “I didn’t know what I was going to do. I wanted to go to Venice. And at that time I couldn’t even speak Swedish. What difference would it make then if I couldn’t speak Italian?” (1984, p.26). Bratt, T. (1984). A totally different life. In Conversations with Nonspeaking People. Toronto:... [Read More...]

No one wants to be ‘that’ professional. You know him or her. The one who always sees the glass as half empty. The one who can give you a long list of things his/her clients can’t do, won’t be able to do. The one is quick to give a dozen reasons why the AAC tools and strategies won’t work for his/her clients. The one who repeatedly says “We tried that and it didn’t work.” I met a professional like this (haven’t we all??) at a workshop I was teaching on making AAC work in the classroom. She approached me at every break and was eager to talk. In these conversations she tried everything she could to get me to agree that her kids were “too low functioning,” that the AAC device was too high level for them, and that the parent’s expectations were unrealistic. What struck me about this young... [Read More...]

Welcome!

PrAACtical AAC supports a community of professionals and families who are determined to improve the communication and literacy abilities of people with significant communication difficulties. It was founded in 2011 by two SLP professors, Carole Zangari and the late Robin Parker, around a shared passion for AAC.

Tags

Archives

Archives

Instagram

Instagram

PrAACtical AAC's Mission: To improve the level of AAC services available to individuals with significant communication challenges by supporting speech-language pathologists and other interested stakeholders